From Trail of Tears to $750M Sovereignty Comeback The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians' story isn't just history—it's a blueprint for tribal self-determination. Around 5,000 Choctaw refused removal in 1831 and remained in Mississippi, surviving 150 years of dispossession. By 1900, only 2,000 remained, living in poverty. But in 1945, they achieved federal recognition and sovereignty under the Indian Reorganization Act. Then Chief Phillip Martin took office in 1979, witnessed 75 percent unemplo